About The Great American Cereal Book
The Great American Cereal Book is a fun, funny, colorful breakfast cereal encyclopedia and coffee table book. It was published by Harry Abrams, which gained fame through its Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The author is lifetime Clevelander Marty Gitlin (now living in North Olmsted).

The book includes every cereal ever produced – about 800 in all – going back to 1863 to the present. In fact, 2013 is the 150th anniversary of breakfast cereals. The book also features about 350 full-color images of cereal boxes, cereal ads, cereal toys and other memorabilia going back to the nineteenth century to today. There are many features about spokescharacters (The Trix Rabbit, Cap’n Crunch, etc…) and novelties (Rice Krispies Treats) as well.

The book has received international attention – the author was recently interviewed by the BBC in London. It was featured in the New York Times (twice), Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest and Time Magazine, as well as dozens of major newspapers around the country. The book was featured on the front page of all the Sun newspapers as well. Marty has also been interviewed on Fox 8 News in the Morning, Robin Swoboda on Channel 3 and several national television and radio shows, including WGN in Chicago (twice).

There are a lot of humorous stories that entered into the author’s childhood love for cereal and the creation of the Great American Cereal Book, as well as in the presentation about the book itself. This will be a highly entertaining presentation for people of all ages. Marty also makes the book available for purchase after the presentation. He signs the books and personalizes them as well.

Some background about myself: I am a freelance book writer and sports writer. I covered the Cleveland Browns the last four years for cbssports.com. During my years as a newspaper sportswriter, I won more than 45 awards, including first place for general excellence from Associated Press for my coverage of the 1995 Indians-Braves World Series. AP also selected me as one of the top four feature writers in Ohio in 2002.

Media Attention

“Instantly evokes feelings of childhood--watching Saturday-morning cartoons and being bombarded with commercials for sweet cereals with colorful mascots like Toucan Sam and Tony the Tiger.” -- New York Times

“From 1863’s “hard as a rock” Granula to the sickly sweet Frosty O’s (right), The Great American Cereal Book catalogs the stories behind every breakfast. Did you know that Lou Gehrig was the first to grace a Wheaties box? Or that in 1984, Mr. T had his own cereal? It’s true; according to the book, one tagline was “I pity the fool who don’t eat my cereal!” -- Time Magazine
“While many of us have ditched the cereals of our youths (in all their freeze-dried marshmallowy glory) in favor of flax seed (boring!), the eye-popping colors and kooky designs on the cereal boxes of our childhoods still have a pull, which is why we’re loving The Great American Cereal Book.” -- Oprah.com

“The book was released in February and has been enthusiastically received by cereal lovers across America. It provides a colorful trip to the past when the likes of King Vitamin, Kaboom and Super Sugar Crisp ruled our breakfast tables. Each page is a kitschy slice of American history as told through our breakfast cereal. It’s no wonder the book has spent seven weeks in the No. 1 spot on Amazon.com’s Americana books category.” -- Miami Herald.

“Anyone who’s ever spooned into a bowl of milky morning manna will love this cool collection of vintage ads, trivia and history celebrating America’s long love affair with breakfast cereals, the memorable, iconic brand characters that have become part of our pop culture, and the spectrum of lesser-known, shorter-lived grocery-shelf hopefuls that faded into sugary obscurity.” – American Profile